


universal elements (design, nurture, thrive)

by mlraven



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Advice, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Crossover, Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Post-Return of the Jedi, Post-Thor 2011, References to Canon violence, liminal spaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 04:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13674057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mlraven/pseuds/mlraven
Summary: After Loki falls off the bridge, he ends up in a strange place.





	universal elements (design, nurture, thrive)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katarina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katarina/gifts).



> Happy Chocobox, Katarina!
> 
> I loved your Loki & Force Ghost Anakin/Vader prompt, so I hope you like this!

There’s a place— a sort of crack between worlds— where the edges of each overlap and pierce, creating a cacophony of distortion.

It’s in this place that Loki finds himself, after he falls off the bridge.

Suddenly, he’s awake, sitting upright in a chair in what seems like an endless, colorless wasteland populated only by a variety of dark figures.

One of them is straddling a chair opposite him, staring at an apple like it might reveal the secrets of the universe.

Loki coughs, then huffs loudly when the man doesn’t respond. Finally, he looks up.

“Oh good,” the man says, shoving the apple in his pocket. “You’re awake.”

Loki is unimpressed.

“And who might you be?” he asks, baring his teeth in the way that as children, never failed to make Thor pout.

The man tilts his head, gaze flicking up and down Loki’s body, taking in his grimy boots, tangled hair, and ripped clothes. He smiles.

“I’m Anakin. I’m sort of the caretaker of this place,” he says.

Loki sniffs.

“‘This place?’ Seems it needs some work. Have you considered a ficus? Or a name?” He stares over Anakin’s shoulder, trying to see the where the space ends, but all he can see is a sea of gray.

Anakin shrugs.

“It didn’t tell me its name when I first arrived, and I’m certainly not going to presume to name it. I’ve learned  _ that  _ lesson,” he says, smiling wryly.

He takes a breath.

“You’re in a kind of in-between place, where troubled souls end up at key moments. Right when we’re hovering over the point of no return. Most people burst through that point and fall over the brink, but some people come here. If you’re lucky.” He looks away for a moment.

“I wasn’t that lucky; or more likely, by the time I fell in the lava on Mustafar, I’d already fallen. Either way, I didn’t end up here at a pivotal moment. I was brought here after— after I rejoined the Light in time to save my son, I died. I died with so many regrets—” he breaks off, runs a hand over his face.

“No matter how many times I tell the story, it’s still hard. This is why I’m here, though. To tell my story to as many people wavering on the knife’s edge as possible, to share my pain and anger and the violence I committed which just brought me more pain, in the end.”

He stands up and offers his hand to Loki.

“You’re on that edge now. It’s up to you to decide what to do about it.”

Anakin has a good feeling about this one.


End file.
